Bracing For The Influx of Artwork

The kids go back to school next week (::angels sing::), and this year Kendall’s in the big Preschool class, the one with the 4 year olds. THE ONE THAT COMES BEFORE KINDERGARTEN.

Wow. That seems almost not possible.

Leyna will continue to go 2 days a week to Mothers Day Out.

I will continue to sort through massive piles of artwork, handprints on construction paper and scribbles on worksheets, to determine what is and isn’t sweet enough to take up space in this house. A little piece of me dies every time I recycle something the kids put their own stamp on (even if that “stamp” is a single piece of macaroni and a red zig-zag scribble in the corner), but a bigger piece of me is non-sentimental with a heart of steel, trying to keep this house from looking like a scene from Hoarders.

We rearranged the playroom last night, and re-hung the artwork displays I made.

The first cut artwork has to make is onto the board. Now that Kendall’s old enough, I ask him what he wants me to put up there, and if there’s not enough room, what he wants me to take down. From there, I try to keep only the unique stuff, and only the stuff I’m sure they had a big part in making. Sometimes Leyna comes home with pictures that I’m fairly confident were colored by her teachers. I toss those and hope she isn’t some sort of artistic prodigy unbeknownst to me.

If you missed my tutorial on how to make these super simple art display boards, check it out here:

Related: This weekend, I stumbled across an app called Artkive (thanks to the Pea In A Podcast’s Facebook page) and I just downloaded it. It looks amazing. You can take pictures of your kids’ art, tag it, save it, share it with approved people, even print it off into a book later. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but thought I’d tell you all about it since the app is free for a limited time. Not sponsored, just wanted to share.

Vivian-Oh, just wait until Kendall goes to school & comes home practically everyday with new stuff that you “have to hang up” somewhere, lol. My house is cluttered with BG1’s artwork, awards, etc.ReplyCancel

Leyna -Smart mama! As soon as Kendall starts kinder, you will be doubly happy you’ve got this system in place. Sooooo many dead trees come home with kindergarteners… I used ArtKeep last year for my kindergartener and preschooler, and I was happy with it. Maybe I’ll try out ArtKive when 1st grade starts and let you know how they compare.ReplyCancel

Elizabeth-I’ve had to buy a little file cabinet to keep the massive amounts of artwork that Addy brings home. I kinda wish I was able to just chunk it without feeling guilty…I don’t know why I feel compelled to save every.single.slip of paper she writes on ever. Great tutorial! My neighbor actually just made these for her playroom!ReplyCancel

Megan-I have one of those cardboard bankers boxes, for each kid, each year. I throw everything in there. I need to do SOMETHING besides keep the stuff though. Im not going to have room in my garage for 18 years of this! I do toss some of it when they arent looking.ReplyCancel

Jedd-Hey ladies – creator of Artkive here. Jill – thanks for writing about Artkive. If any of you decide to use artkive for your art saving needs, I’d love to hear any feedback or ways we could make it even more useful for you. We’re working on lots of new features now – but hopefully you’ll find it’s already incredible simple to use.ReplyCancel

Ariel-Since my son is still a baby I find myself envious of my friends who have their older kids’ artwork hung up around their homes. I look forward to the day I’ll have my son’s art in my home, but I know that the novelty will wear off quickly. One of my good friends has framed her older son and daughter’s artwork throughout the house. I assume they went through some process of determining which artwork should be displayed, but the thing I really love about this is that it shows the kids that their art is just as important and valuable as “real” art.ReplyCancel